Giants

Giants On Brink Of Title After Game 5 Shutout, 4-0

Aubrey Huff #17 of the San Francisco Giants hits a 2-run home run in the top of the third inning against the Texas Rangers in Game Four of the 2010 MLB World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on October 31, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Giants Central

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – The rookie pitched way beyond his years, sending a shudder through Rangers Ballpark.

Madison Bumgarner dominated for eight innings, Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey homered and the San Francisco Giants put on a fielding clinic in Game 4, beating Texas 4-0 on Sunday night to move within one win of that elusive World Series title.

Dressed in black-and-orange, the Giants were spooky good in taking a 3-1 edge. Bumgarner allowed only three hits and took all the fun out of a festive, Halloween crowd.

Huff’s two-run homer in the third gave Bumgarner all the support he needed. Posey added a solo shot in the eighth—Bumgarner and Posey became the first rookie battery to start in the Series since Spec Shea and Yogi Berra for the Yankees in 1947.

Even though Bumgarner got relief help, it was a complete game for the Giants. Andres Torres and Edgar Renteria each got three hits and their teammates made almost every play in the field.

Make it great D in Big D.

Left fielder Cody Ross came up with a shoestring catch, second baseman Freddy Sanchez made a leaping grab and Posey threw out Josh Hamilton trying to steal. Bumgarner helped himself, too, knocking down Hamilton’s scorcher up the middle.

Coming off a 4-2 win Saturday night, the Rangers and their fans were ready to even this Series. Earlier in the day, about a quarter-mile away at Cowboys Stadium, Dallas dropped to 1-6 with a 35-17 loss to Jacksonsville. Two little boys held up signs inside that read: “Hurry Up Cowboys … I Have a Rangers Game to go to.”

The father-and-son team of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first ball in what Major League Baseball said was the first time two former presidents attended a World Series game.

The elder Bush’s wife, Barbara, even kept score from her front-row seat next to the Texas dugout. There wasn’t much to write down—not on the Texas side, anyway.

Bumgarner didn’t permit a runner past first base until the seventh. Facing his only jam, he retired Ian Kinsler on a fly ball to strand two runners and preserve a 3-0 lead.

Bumgarner struck out Vladimir Guerrero three times, the first time the star Texas designated hitter had done that this season.

Wilson closed with a hitless ninth.

The Giants tweaked their lineup, benching strikeout machine Pat Burrell and making Huff the DH for the first time this season. Bochy put Nate Schierholtz in right field and Travis Ishikawa at first base—fine fielders, not great hitters. That’s more the NL way, where spare bats rarely grow on the bench.

Washington came off his bench twice to discuss calls with first base umpire Jeff Kellogg. Both plays were bang-bang, and replays seemed to show both were misses that went against the Rangers.

Thwarted early, the Giants took a 2-0 lead in the third on Huff’s homer. Torres led off with a grounder that hit the first-base bag, kicked up and rolled into the corner for a double. Sanchez failed to advance him and was still shouting at himself down in the dugout tunnel when Huff hit a long drive to right.

Huff homered on the 62nd pitch overall from Hunter, who tossed strikes but couldn’t throw the ball past anyone. Alexi Ogando began warming up in the Texas bullpen in the third and replaced Hunter in the fifth.

Ogando set down five straight batters, then bounced a breaking ball to the sixth and immediately grabbed his left side. A trainer went to the mound, Ogando came out and Darren Oliver relieved.

The Giants took an aggressive approach from the get-go. After Torres led off the game with an infield single, Bochy ordered up a bunt, hit-and-run and a steal—all with Sanchez at the plate.

Hamilton kept things scoreless in the Giants second. The All-Star center fielder charged hard to make a diving, backhanded catch on a blooper by Schierholtz that stranded runners at the corners.

Notes: At 21, Bumgarner became the fifth-youngest pitcher to start in a World Series. Bullet Joe Bush was 20 for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1913. … Hunter has not gotten past the fourth inning in any of his three postseason starts. He went 13-4 during the regular season. … Huff hit his first homer since Sept. 25. … Hunter fielded Renteria’s bat after it slipped out of his hands and slithered to the mound in the second. Hunter politely handed it back to Renteria. … Ishikawa, making his first start since Aug. 14, scraped his chin making a headfirst dive into third base.